Drug injection control device having stable operation structure of injection button through button plate positioned in dose dial

ABSTRACT

A drug injection control device has a structure in which a rod lock screw-coupled to an outer circumferential surface of a piston rod can only make a linear motion under restricted rotation in a rod holder with the rotation of a rod guide and the sub-linear motion of the piston rod. When an injection amount of drug is preset through an injection amount setting module configured to make a rotational motion with a dose dial in a housing to set the amount of drug to be injected by storing the twisting moment in a torsion spring, a button plate is fixed and positioned in the dose dial to perform a function of supporting a button spring, and an injection button is slidably coupled through the button plate, so the injection button rotates simultaneously with the rotation of the dose dial, but allows a stable pushing operation through the button plate.

PRIORITY

This application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119, 120, 121, or365(c), and is a National Stage entry from International Application No.PCT/KR2021/015681, filed Nov. 2, 2021, which claims priority to thebenefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2020-0145237 filed in theKorean Intellectual Property Office on Nov. 3, 2020, the entire contentsof which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a drug injection control device inwhich a button plate coupled to an injection button is positioned in adose dial to allow a stable operation of the injection button whichmakes a linear motion in the dose dial.

2. Background Art

Autoinjectors are devices for easy self-administration by patients oreven untrained personnel, and shield the patients from being exposed tosyringe needles. There is a need for autoinjectors that are easy to use,acceptably small in size and simple to improve the manufacturing,assembly and use, resulting in reduced manufacturing and assembly costs,and have the minimized influence on the environment.

Drug injectors used for subcutaneous injection require highlyspecialized skills and experience to use them, and recently, automaticdrug injectors have been proposed, in which drugs are automaticallyinjected via syringe needles that penetrate into the skin when pressedagainst the skin.

Among the commercially available syringes for drug injection, pen-typesyringes have functionality to feed multiple doses from drug containers,and the dose quantity is set immediately before the dose delivery. Sincemost of drug delivery device users have little experience, in someinstances, it is desirable to provide the users with some types ofindicators or information notifying that the dose delivery sequenceswere carried out and it is safe to remove the drug delivery devices fromthe dose delivery sites.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2017-00065623 discloses a drug injectordevice including a housing having an internal space and a lengthwisewindow, a rotatable dose dial that is maintained in the axial directionwith respect to the housing, and a rotatable scale drum to present anindication for displaying the size of the set dose, wherein a slidingelement of the scale drum is configured to slide in the axial directionwith respect to the housing during the dose setting, the indicationpresented by the scale drum can be seen through a sliding window andaccordingly the lengthwise window and the sliding window are combinedwith the indication to form a dose size display, the rotatable scaledrum is rotated in the internal space formed by the housing during thedose setting, and an inner surface of the sliding element has innerfeatures coupled to outer screw threads on an outer surface of the scaledrum.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2019-0017806 discloses a drug injectiondevice, and more particularly, a drug delivery device including ahousing and an actuation mechanism arranged inside the housing, whereinthe actuation mechanism includes a plunger rod arranged to act on astopper of a drug container and an actuator arranged slidable andconnected to the plunger rod for acting on the stopper when the actuatoris operated by displacing it in a longitudinal direction of theactuation mechanism.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure is designed to solve the above-described problemof the conventional technology, and therefore the present disclosure isdirected to providing a drug injection control device technology inwhich a button plate coupled to an injection button is positioned in adose dial to allow a stable operation of the injection button whichmakes a linear motion in the dose dial when setting the drug dosethrough the dose dial and injecting the set drug through the injectionbutton.

To achieve the above-described object, a drug injection control deviceaccording to the present disclosure includes a hollow housing 10, a dosedial 20 rotatably coupled to a side of the housing 10, a cartridgeholder 30 fixedly coupled to an opposite side of the housing 10 whereina cartridge containing a drug is received in the cartridge holder 30 andan injection needle is coupled to a side to deliver the drug, aninjection button 40 positioned on an outer side of the dose dial 20 anda cap 60 separably coupled to an outside of the cartridge holder 30, andincludes an injection amount setting module 100 to set an amount of thedrug to be injected by storing a twisting moment in a torsion spring 140positioned in the housing 10; and a drug delivery module 200 to deliverthe drug from the cartridge embedded in the cartridge holder 30 bymoving through the release of the twisting moment applied to the torsionspring 140, and preferably, the injection amount setting module 100 mayinclude a button plate 160 fixed and positioned in the dose dial 20 toperform a function of supporting the button spring 50, the injectionbutton 40 may be slidably coupled through the button plate 160, the drugdelivery module 200 may include a rod guide 210 switchably coupled tothe injection amount setting module 100 by the operation of theinjection button 40, and a piston rod 220 screw-coupled to an outer sideof the rod guide 210 to deliver the drug from the cartridge embedded inthe cartridge holder 30 by making a linear motion with a rotationalmotion of the rod guide 210, and the injection button 40 may rotatesimultaneously with the rotation of the dose dial 20, but may allow astable pushing motion through the button plate 160.

Preferably, the button plate 160 may be fixed to a plate fixing step 24formed along a circumferential direction on an inner surface of the dosedial 20 on a first dial chamber formed through a partition wall in thedose dial 20.

Preferably, the injection amount setting module 100 may include a resettube 110 switchably coupled to the dose dial 20 by the operation of theinjection button 40, a ratchet tube 120 coupled to an outer side of thereset tube 110 to rotate at the same time, a scale drum 130 whichslidably rotates along an axial direction on an outer surface of theratchet tube 120, and a torsion spring 140 having two ends coupled tothe housing 10 and the ratchet tube 120, and the rod guide 210 coupledto the reset tube 110 may be connected to an inside of the piston rod220 by screw rotation coupling to allow a sub-linear motion of thepiston rod 220 through the rotation of the rod guide 210, thereby havinga cartridge drug release structure through the screw coupling betweenthe piston rod 220 and the rod guide 210.

Preferably, the drug injection control device may include a spring base150 coupled to the housing 10, the torsion spring 140 may have two endscoupled to the spring base 150 and the ratchet tube 120, respectively,and during the rotation through the dose dial 20, a side of the torsionspring 140 fixed to the ratchet tube 120 may rotate, while an oppositeside of the torsion spring 140 fixed to the spring base 150 may be keptin fixed state, to get the spring twisted.

Preferably, the rod guide 210 may include a guide body having a guidespiral protrusion separably coupled to a guide coupling groove formed inan inner surface of the piston rod 220, and a guide rotation protrusionprotruding on an outer surface of one side of the guide body andseparably coupled to a guide coupling groove formed on an inner surfaceof the reset tube 110.

In the drug injection control device according to the present disclosureas described above, when the injection amount of drug is presetaccording to the user's intention through the injection amount settingmodule configured to make a rotational motion with the dose dial in thehousing to set the amount of drug to be injected by storing the twistingmoment in the torsion spring, the button plate is fixed and positionedin the dose dial to perform the function of supporting the buttonspring, and the injection button is slidably coupled through the buttonplate, so the injection button rotates simultaneously with the rotationof the dose dial, but allows a stable pushing operation through thebutton plate.

Additionally, the rod guide is connected to the inside of the piston rodby screw rotation coupling through the reset tube movably coupled to theinjection button to allow a sub-linear motion of the piston rod throughthe rotation of the rod guide, thereby having a stable cartridge drugrelease structure through the screw coupling between the piston rod andthe rod guide.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an assembled perspective view of a drug injection controldevice according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the drug injection controldevice according to FIG. 1 .

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the drug injection control device ofFIG. 1 .

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of section A in FIG. 3 .

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a connection relationship between a dosedial and a reset tube.

FIG. 6 shows an injection button, a button plate, a reset tube, a springbase and a scale drum assembled together.

FIG. 7 shows a dose dial, a scale drum, a ratchet tube, a reset tube anda piston rod assembled together.

FIG. 8 shows an injection button, a button plate and a dose dialassembled together.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of section B in FIG. 3 .

FIG. 10 shows a dose dial.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, the embodiments of the present disclosure will be describedin more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, thepresent disclosure is not limited to the following disclosed embodimentsand will be embodied in a variety of different forms, and theseembodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough andcomplete, and will fully convey the scope of the present disclosure tothose skilled in the art. In the drawings, like reference signs denotelike elements.

In adding the reference signs to the elements in each drawing, it shouldbe noted that like elements have like reference signs as possiblealthough they are shown in different drawings. Additionally, indescribing the present disclosure, when it is determined that a certaindetailed description of relevant known elements or functions may obscurethe subject matter of the present disclosure, its detailed descriptionis omitted.

Hereinafter, a drug injection control device having a structure in whicha rod guide 210 rotates and a piston rod moving with the rod guide 210makes a linear motion to stably inject a drug set through a dose dialaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be describedwith reference to FIGS. 1 to 10 .

The drug injection control device includes a hollow housing 10, a dosedial 20 rotatably coupled to one side of the housing 10, a cartridgeholder 30 fixedly coupled to the other side of the housing 10, wherein acartridge containing a drug is received in the cartridge holder 30 andan injection needle is coupled to one side to deliver the drug, aninjection button 40 positioned on the outer side of the dose dial 20, abutton spring 50 to allow the injection button 40 to be pressed andrestored in the dose dial 20, and a cap 60 separably coupled to theoutside of the cartridge holder 30.

The present disclosure includes an injection amount setting module 100configured to make a rotational motion with the dose dial 20 in thehousing 10 to set an amount of drug to be injected by storing thetwisting moment in a torsion spring; and a drug delivery module 200switchably coupled to the injection amount setting module 100 by theoperation of the injection button 40 to deliver the amount of drug setby the injection amount setting module 100 from the cartridge embeddedin the cartridge holder 30 by moving through the release of the twistingmoment applied to the torsion spring.

The injection amount setting module 100 includes a reset tube 110switchably coupled to the dose dial 20 by the operation of the injectionbutton 40, a ratchet tube 120 coupled to the outer side of the resettube 110 to rotate at the same time, a scale drum 130 which slidablyrotates along the axial direction on the outer surface of the ratchettube 120, a torsion spring 140 having two ends coupled to the housing 10and the ratchet tube 120, a spring base 150 to which the other side ofthe torsion spring 140 opposite to one side coupled to the ratchet tube120 is fixed, a button plate 160 fixed and positioned in the dose dial20 to perform the function of supporting the button spring 50, and ananchor 170 rotatably coupled to the ratchet tube 120 and slidablycoupled to the inside of the housing 10.

The reset tube 110 is a structure having a hollow cylindrical shape, andincludes a button coupling groove 111 formed along the circumferentialdirection on the outer circumferential surface for coupling of buttonlegs 41 which constitute the injection button 40, a dial couplingprotrusion 112 decouplably coupled to a tube coupling protrusion formedinside of the dose dial 20, and a tube coupling hole 113 coupled to theratchet tube 120 to allow the ratchet tube 120 to rotate at the sametime.

The ratchet tube 120 is a structure having a hollow cylindrical shapefor receiving the reset tube 110 therein, and includes a drum guideprotrusion 121 protruding along the lengthwise direction on the outercircumferential surface, an anchor coupling groove 122 formed along thecircumferential direction to allow rotatable coupling of the anchor 170on one side of the ratchet tube 120, a second tube coupling hole 123connected to the first tube coupling hole of the reset tube 110, and atube spring stop groove 124 which allows coupling with the end of thetorsion spring 140.

The scale drum 130 includes a drum guide groove 131 formed along thelengthwise direction on the inner surface to match the drum guideprotrusion formed in the ratchet tube 120, and a drum rotation groove132 formed along a spiral shape on the outer circumferential surface tomatch a drum rotation protrusion protruding in a spiral shape on theinner surface of the housing 10.

The torsion spring 140 has two ends coupled to the spring base 150 andthe ratchet tube 120, respectively, and during the rotation through thedose dial 20, one side 141 of the torsion spring 140 fixed to theratchet tube 120 rotates, while the other side 142 of the torsion spring140 fixed to the spring base 150 is kept in the fixed state, to get thespring twisted.

The spring base 150 is a structure which is positioned inside of thedose dial 20 and fixedly coupled to the housing 10 without movement, andincludes a base spring stop groove 151 that allows coupling with the endof the torsion spring 140, and a ratchet 152 configured to generate aclicking sound when engaging with ratchet protrusions 22 formed in thedose dial 20 during the rotation of the dose dial 20. In other words,feedback on the injection amount is provided through the sequentialcontact between the ratchet and the ratchet protrusions 22 formed on onesurface of a dial partition wall 21 formed on the inside of the dosedial 20 along the radial direction by rotating the dose dial 20.

The button plate 160 is in the shape of a circular plate fixed andpositioned on a first chamber formed on one side with respect to thedial partition wall of the dose dial 20, and includes a guide fixinghole 161 formed at the center of the button plate 160 and a plurality ofbutton guide holes 162 radially formed with respect to the guide fixinghole. The plurality of button legs 41 that constitutes the injectionbutton 40 is coupled through the plurality of button guide holes. Inother words, the button plate 160 allows a stable linear motion of theinjection button 40 and stable placement of the button spring 50 on theinjection button 40. The button spring 50 is placed on the button plate160 and when the injection button 40 is pressed, the button spring 50 iscompressed to the lowest point being the button plate 160, and when thepressure is removed, the button spring 50 restores its original state.

Referring to FIGS. 8 to 10 , the button plate 160 is positioned on thefirst dial chamber 20 a formed on one side with respect to the dialpartition wall 21 formed in the dose dial 20, and the injection button40 is slidably coupled through the plurality of button guide holes 162formed in the button plate 160. The plurality of button guide holes 162may be radially arranged at a predetermined distance with respect to theguide fixing hole 161. The plurality of button legs 41 has leg stop endsof a curved structure at the end to prevent the slip from the buttonguide holes 162.

The button plate 160 is fixed to a plate fixing step 24 formed along thecircumferential direction on the inner surface of the dose dial 20 onthe first dial chamber 20 a.

In other words, the button plate 160 is coupled moveably with therotation of the dose dial 20. In this state, the injection button 40rotates simultaneously with the rotation of the dose dial 20, but allowsa stable pushing motion through the button plate 160.

The anchor 170 includes an anchor circumferential protrusion 171protruding along the circumferential direction on the inner surface anda housing coupling protrusion 172 formed along the axial direction onthe outer circumferential surface. The anchor circumferential protrusion171 is fitted into the anchor 170 coupling groove formed on the ratchettube 120, and the housing coupling protrusion 172 is fitted into ananchor sliding portion 11 formed in the inner surface of the housing 10.

In the unpressed state of the injection button 40, the dose dial 20 isrotated as follows.

The reset tube 110 coupled to a tube coupling teeth formed along thecircumferential direction on the inner surface of the dose dial 20 iscoupled to the ratchet tube 120 coupled through the other side of thereset tube 110 and is coupled to the scale drum 130 slidably coupledalong a drum guide rail positioned in a straight line shape along theaxial direction on the outer surface of the ratchet tube 120, and thescale drum 130 is coupled to match a drum guide spiral protrusionspirally formed on the inner surface of the housing 10. Through this, asa consequence, the rotation of the dose dial 20 allows the scale drum130 to move a predetermined distance along the housing 10 and storage ofthe twisting moment of the torsion spring 140.

The drug delivery module 200 includes the rod guide 210 switchablycoupled to the reset tube 110 by the operation of the injection button40, the piston rod 220 screw-coupled to the outer surface of the rodguide 210 to deliver the drug from the cartridge embedded in thecartridge holder 30 by making a linear motion with the rotational motionof the rod guide 210, a rod holder 230 coupled to the cartridge holder30 and through which the piston rod 220 is coupled along the axialdirection, and a rod lock 240 screw-coupled to the outer surface of thepiston rod 220 in the rod holder 230.

The rod guide 210 includes a guide body 211 having a guide spiralprotrusion 212 separably coupled to a guide coupling groove formed inthe inner surface of the piston rod 220, a guide rotation protrusion 213protruding on the outer surface of one side of the guide body andseparably coupled to a guide coupling groove formed on the inner surfaceof the reset tube 110, and a guide ball 214 protruding along the axialdirection at the end of the guide body and coupled to a guide fixinghole formed at the center of the button plate 160. In other words, whenthe rod guide 210 is in a rotatable state in place without verticalmovement by the guide ball coupled through the guide fixing hole of thebutton plate 160 fixedly coupled to the dose dial 20, the rod guide 210is switchably coupled to or decoupled from the reset tube 110 throughthe guide rotation protrusion, and allows a relative motion by screwcoupling with the piston rod 220 through the guide spiral protrusion.

The piston rod 220 has a hollow cylindrical shape through which the rodguide 210 is coupled along the axial direction, and includes a rodmovement portion 221 having a lock coupling protrusion to which the rodlock 240 is rotatably coupled and a rod stop portion 222 having a stopstep 223 to stop the rod lock 240 from rotating.

The rod holder 230 has a hollow cylindrical shape, and is fixed to theouter side of the cartridge holder 30 through a holder fixing step 231protruding along the circumferential direction on the outercircumferential surface, and allows a linear motion of the rod lock 240through a lock guide 232 formed therethrough along the lengthwisedirection on the outer circumferential surface.

The rod lock 240 is screw-coupled to the outer surface of the piston rod220 to allow a rotational motion with the linear motion of the pistonrod 220.

The rod lock 240 includes a lock body 241 coupled to the outer surfaceof the piston rod 220, and a lock protrusion 243 protruding along theaxial direction on one side of the lock body. The lock protrusion makesa linear motion along the axial direction of the cartridge holder 30when it is inserted into a lock guide 232. According to theabove-described structure, the rod lock 240 moves with the rotation ofthe piston rod 220, but only can make a linear motion along the lockguide 232 under restricted rotation by the lock guide 232.

In the present disclosure, the rod guide is screw-coupled to the insideof the piston rod having the internal screw, and when the rod guidecoupled to the reset tube is rotated in place with the rotation of thereset tube, the piston rod engaged with the rod guide is moved down tothe cartridge holder.

The rod lock is rotatably connected to the external screw of the pistonrod, and in this state, the rod holder is installed around the pistonrod and the rod lock to allow the piston rod to rotate and the rod lockto make a linear motion.

When the injection button 40 operates, the rod guide 210 coupled to thereset tube 110 is connected to the inside of the piston rod 220 by screwrotation coupling to allow a sub-linear motion of the piston rod 220through the rotation of the rod guide 210.

The drug injection control device according to the present disclosure asdescribed above allows a structure in which the rod guide 210 rotatesand the piston rod moving with the rod guide 210 makes a linear motionto stably inject the drug set through the dose dial.

The foregoing description is made to describe the technical spirit ofthe present disclosure for illustrative purposes, and it is obvious tothose skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and change maybe made thereto without departing from the essential features of thepresent disclosure. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed herein areprovided to describe the technical spirit of the present disclosure andnot intended to be limiting, and the technical spirit and scope of thepresent disclosure is not limited by the embodiments. The scope ofprotection of the present disclosure should be interpreted by theappended claims, and it should be interpreted that the scope ofprotection of the present disclosure covers all the technical spiritwithin the equivalent scope.

1. A drug injection control device comprising: housing being hollow; adose dial rotatably coupled to a side of the housing; a cartridge holderfixedly coupled to an opposite side of the housing, wherein a cartridgecontaining a drug is configured to be received in the cartridge holderand an injection needle is configured to be coupled to a side to deliverthe drug; an injection button positioned on an outer side of the dosedial; a cap separably coupled to an outside of the cartridge holder; aninjection amount setting module to set an amount of the drug to beinjected by storing a twisting moment in a torsion spring positioned inthe housing; and a drug delivery module to deliver the drug from thecartridge embedded in the cartridge holder by moving through the releaseof the twisting moment applied to the torsion spring, wherein theinjection amount setting module includes a button plate fixed andpositioned in the dose dial to perform a function of supporting thebutton spring, wherein the injection button is slidably coupled throughthe button plate, wherein the drug delivery module includes: a rod guideswitchably coupled to the injection amount setting module by theoperation of the injection button, and a piston rod screw-coupled to anouter side of the rod guide to deliver the drug from the cartridgeembedded in the cartridge holder by making a linear motion with arotational motion of the rod guide, and wherein the injection buttonrotates simultaneously with the rotation of the dose dial, but allows astable pushing motion through the button plate.
 2. The drug injectioncontrol device according to claim 1, wherein the button plate is fixedto a plate fixing step formed along a circumferential direction on aninner surface of the dose dial on a first dial chamber formed through apartition wall in the dose dial.
 3. The drug injection control deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the injection amount setting moduleincludes a reset tube switchably coupled to the dose dial by theoperation of the injection button, a ratchet tube coupled to an outerside of the reset tube to rotate at the same time, a scale drum whichslidably rotates along an axial direction on an outer surface of theratchet tube, and a torsion spring having two ends coupled to thehousing and the ratchet tube, and wherein the rod guide coupled to thereset tube is connected to an inside of the piston rod by screw rotationcoupling to allow a sub-linear motion of the piston rod through therotation of the rod guide, thereby having a cartridge drug releasestructure through the screw coupling between the piston rod and the rodguide.
 4. The drug injection control device according to claim 1,wherein comprises a spring base coupled to the housing, and the torsionspring has two ends coupled to the spring base and the ratchet tube,respectively, and wherein during the rotation through the dose dial, aside of the torsion spring fixed to the ratchet tube rotates, while anopposite side of the torsion spring fixed to the spring base is kept infixed state, to get the spring twisted.